Lineage & History

Our traceable lineage begins with the Chen family where Ch’en Ch’ang-hsien passed tai chi to his disciple Yang Lu-shan (1799-1872). Yang-style tai chi was born and passed within the family to Yang Lu-shan’s sons Pan-hou (1837-1892) and Chien-hou (1839-1917). Master Yang Cheng-fu (1883-1936) was the son of Chien-hou.

Our traceable lineage begins with the Chen family where Ch’en Ch’ang-hsien passed tai chi to his disciple Yang Lu-shan (1799-1872). Yang-style tai chi was born and passed within the family to Yang Lu-shan’s sons Pan-hou (1837-1892) and Chien-hou (1839-1917). Master Yang Cheng-fu (1883-1936) was the son of Chien-hou...

Patrick Watson (1935-1992) already had a long history with martial arts, Hawaiian swimming, and the theater when he began studying with Cheng Man-Ch’ing in 1966. He studied with him for nine years, becoming one of his eight most senior disciples. In 1976, Patrick founded The School of Tai Chi Chuan (STCC) specifically to train teachers to teach the Professor’s tai chi chuan form; in 1979 Patrick founded the T’ai Chi Foundation, Inc. which now manages all programs including teaching, training, research and development. Over the next 16 years, Patrick guided the growth of the STCC into an international school with branches in seven countries...

Oscar Ichazo, founder of the Arica® School, was also one of Patrick’s teachers. The Arica® work provides spiritual, emotional, mental and physical tools which help develop one’s tai chi practice. Many of the teachers in our School are also students of the Arica® work. Learn more about Arica® at www.arica.org.